


The Intruder

by Onmyliteraturebullshitagain



Series: And They Were Neighbors (oh my god they were neighbors) [5]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Drunk Zuko (Avatar), Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, For Humor Purposes Only, M/M, Midwest Bi Disaster Zukka, Miscommunication, Zukka in their mid twenties, Zuko is a mess, bi disasters, but we love him anyway, zukka - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27674687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain/pseuds/Onmyliteraturebullshitagain
Summary: Sokka is awaken by a late-night knock on the door and discovers a very drunk, very lost Zuko.Midwest Bi Disaster Zukka, but as long as you know they're dating, can totally be read as a stand-alone :)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: And They Were Neighbors (oh my god they were neighbors) [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968508
Comments: 109
Kudos: 625





	The Intruder

Sokka woke up abruptly to Boomerang smacking him in the ribs as he jumped off the bed, barking madly because someone was rustling around at the front door.

"What the ever-loving fuck?" Sokka grumbled to himself, or to the apartment, or the dog, or the person at his door. He was too tired to know who exactly he was addressing, but he slapped his hand at his nightstand, grabbed for his phone, and turned it over.

2:42am

What the ever-loving fuck indeed? Sure, it was a Saturday night, but what the hell? Boomerang was still barking and someone now seemed to be kicking his front door, so Sokka dragged himself out of bed. His mouth was definitely dry and sandy, and he squinted as he flipped on the hallway light, increasingly annoyed as he headed toward his front door. Everything was dark, the ice maker in the fridge humming and the Alexa by the window blinking with an unread notification, but there was nothing else out of place except for the continued noises at the door and Boomerang crying because he couldn’t get to whoever it was. Sokka left the main living room light off and undid the front lock, belatedly wondering if he should have grabbed a weapon or put on a shirt. Great, now if he got murdered, the police would find him wearing just blue flannel pajama pants and completely unarmed. 

He opened the door anyway, although only wide enough to squint out, and there was Zuko in the fluorescent-lit hallway, swaying slightly on his feet and looking equal parts completely lost and deeply frustrated. Sokka stared at him, brain working to register the situation, and opened the door further.

"What--" he started.

"Why doesn't my key work?" Zuko demanded, voice an angry slur of sound, and then held up his keys at Sokka. "And why're you in my apartment?"

God, Sokka could smell the alcohol practically radiating off of him as Zuko leaned forward to steady himself against the door frame, eyes going in and out of focus as he continued to glare. Like  _ Sokka _ was somehow at fault for being rudely awakened at a time when only the truly desperate or truly stupid were still awake.

"Because this is  _ my _ apartment," Sokka explained, swinging between wanting to laugh and wanting to slam the door in his face and crawl back into bed. "Your apartment is  _ downstairs _ ."

Zuko stared at him, eyes still wobbling.

"What?" he asked after a second. "Down-downstairs?"

"Yeah, buddy," Sokka said, definitely leaning toward laughing now, because this was just too ridiculous for words.

"But…  _ why?"  _ Zuko asked as he swayed to the right and stumbled to stay on his feet.

"Yeah, I don't have any answer for that," Sokka replied, rubbing his eyes. "So what're we doing here?"

Zuko blinked at him once, clearly baffled.

"Had a bit to drink tonight?" Sokka asked, opening the door all the way now.

"No!" Zuko said sharply and then swayed again. "Maybe…” He dragged a hand over his face. “Coworkers--Nick's birthday, and then we were at the bar and Soph--Sophie was buying shots and they--I can't--" He wobbled again.

"Nobody drinks like an EMT, I guess," Sokka offered tiredly, and Zuko actually gave a short laugh.

"Good pun," he said, smiling, and Sokka squinted at him, trying to figure out what exactly the pun was that'd he just made.

He came up with nothing.

"So why… why are you in my house?" Zuko asked, suddenly looking worried again.

Sokka sighed and stepped out to grab his arm.

"Let's get you in here for a second," he said, and Zuko let himself be pulled, "or you're gonna fall down the stairs and die, and you're the only doctor I know so we'd all be fucked."

Zuko laughed at that and didn't correct him, which  _ really  _ meant the boy was three sheets to the wind. He leaned against Sokka as they headed inside, tripping a little over his own feet. As they headed toward the couch, he apparently suddenly noticed Boomerang, who was following them and wagging his tail, confused but excited to have a guest in the house even at this stupid hour.

"Tha's a dog!" Zuko said, sounding scandalized.

"That's Boomerang," Sokka said like he was instructing a toddler, depositing Zuko on the couch, where he flopped back into it like a rag doll. "You've met him. Lots of times."

"Boomer-ang," Zuko slurred, suddenly chuckling. "You throw 'im and he comes back?"

Sokka snorted. "Yeah, something like that," he said. "So what exactly was in these shots, huh? Tequila? Absinthe? Magic mushrooms?"

Zuko stared at him blankly. "What? It was--" he made some sort of gesture with both hands that left Sokka absolutely lost and then concluded, "and it was  _ purple _ ." He cocked his head, eyes narrowing. “There might also’ve been weed.”

"There it is," Sokka said, scratching the back of his head and then headed to the kitchen, throwing on another small light as he went even if he'd still left most of the place in darkness. "I'm gonna grab you water, ok?"

Zuko didn't answer, apparently now engrossed in the fact that Boomerang had hopped up on the couch beside him and was trying to lick his ear. As Sokka filled a glass with water, he kept an eye on them, Zuko oscillating between trying to pet Boomerang and trying to push him away, muttering to him the whole time in some wobbly approximation of Zuko's normal voice. Sokka shook his head, tired but not terribly unhappy to have Zuko here anyway.

And he was gonna mock Zuko  _ mercilessly _ for this tomorrow, which was an added perk.

"Ok," he said, heading back toward the couch. "Water. You should definitely drink this."

Zuko looked back up at him, surprised to see him apparently, but he took the water when Sokka held it out. He then looked at the glass for a moment too before finally drinking a little of it and then shifting around to find somewhere to set it down. He landed on a side table and carefully set the glass down before turning back toward Sokka, who was still watching him with amusement.

"What?" Zuko asked, eyes narrowing at him, and Sokka chuckled. 

"Nothing, babe," he replied, shaking his head. "Just wondering how much of this you'll actually remember tomorrow."

"I'm not  _ that _ \--" Zuko attempted and then hiccupped with the perfect comedic timing of an old movie, and insisted, "not that drunk."

"Sure," Sokka said. "Drink your water.”

“I don’t…” Zuko said, and then hiccupped again. “Somethin’s wrong with me.”

“Yeah, I got that part,” Sokka said, smiling and then trying to parse through his brain for hangover prevention. 

Water, sure. Food maybe? He shrugged internally. 

“Drink the water and I'll make some toast, ok?”

Zuko squinted at him again but then did as he was told, amazingly, and Sokka focused on searching the kitchen without having to turn more lights on. Zuko and Boomerang remained in heavy shadow and serious conversation, apparently, so Sokka left them to it. Ultimately, he could throw together some peanut butter and jelly to maybe soak up some of the insane amount of alcohol in Zuko's system. Zuko, as he drank his water, continued narrating to Boomerang, accented his comments by poking at the dog's ears and petting his fur with and against the grain while laughing to himself.

Thank god Boomerang was such a nice dog who honestly just seemed to be enjoying the attention. Sokka set the toast on the side table closest to Zuko and then stood in front of him, looking down at the odd pair of his drunk boyfriend and his very happy dog. Damn, he should have brought his phone so he could have photographic evidence of this whole thing.

Zuko looked up at him again when he realized Sokka was there and then, very non-subtly, let his eyes wander down Sokka's body.

"You don't have a shirt on," Zuko pointed out, eyes very clearly locked on Sokka's bare chest, and Sokka had to keep himself from bursting out laughing.

"No, I don't," he agreed gently. "I was sleeping, a thing  _ you  _ should also do at some point."

Zuko squinted at him and then looked around the apartment.

"But this isn't my house," he said.

Sokka sighed. "We've established that. But you've stayed at my house before so--"

"I  _ have _ ?" Zuko said, eyes widening.

"Sweet god," Sokka said, stepping forward so he could pick up the plate and put it directly in front of Zuko’s face. "Eat the toast, Zuko. Your brain’s gone full pudding."

Zuko's forehead wrinkled a moment, but he picked up and nibbled a bit of the peanut butter and jelly. Satisfied, Sokka grabbed the glass to refill it at the sink and rubbed his eyes as he walked.

When he turned back around, Zuko was feeding half the piece of toast to Boomerang, who was clearly thrilled with this arrangement.

"Hey, no!" Sokka said, startling both drunk boyfriend and dog. "Eat it yourself! Don't feed it to him!"

"But he wan's it so much!" Zuko insisted, gesturing at the dog. "And it makes him so  _ happy _ ."

"Well he's a lying mooch so don't listen to his big, sad eyes," Sokka said, heading back toward the couch and then snapping his fingers at the dog to get down.

Boomerang pouted but obeyed, and then Zuko pouted because the dog was gone. But at least, with Sokka’s continued supervision, he did eat the other piece of toast and drink some more water.

"Better?" Sokka asked.

"Maybe?" Zuko replied, setting everything aside again. He then squinted up at Sokka for a long moment. 

"You have pretty skin,” he stated, forehead still wrinkled with concentration.

"Um, like you wanna turn it into lampshades in your basement, or…?" Sokka teased, but Zuko shot him a horrified look.

"No!" he said sharply. "You're just…" 

He reached for Sokka's hand, which Sokka offered with an amused grin. Zuko wrapped a hand around his wrist, hanging on, and then ran his first finger over the back of Sokka’s hand, tracing the bones along the top from wrist to nail, fastidious in whatever he was studying. Sokka let it happen, though, because it was strangely adorable.

“See?” Zuko said, motioning with his free hand. “Pretty.”

Sokka laughed. “Sure.”

"I like your hands," Zuko announced, looking up at him again.

Sokka smirked. "You know, you've never said that before but I'd definitely guessed. Now stand up for a sec."

He motioned for Zuko to follow his directions, and the other man obliged, although he wobbled again. 

“So how much booze and/or weed happened tonight, buddy?” Sokka asked, steadying his shoulders a moment.

“Dunno,” Zuko muttered back, watching him. “Lots?”

Sokka just shook his head and focused on unzipping the light jacket and working it off Zuko’s shoulders and down his arms. Once freed, he tossed it back toward the front door while keeping one hand on Zuko’s shoulders to keep him upright. Zuko watched him do all of this, eyes narrowed in confusion, and then something twitched in his face.

"Oh-- _ oh _ ," he said, trying to take a step back and hitting the couch instead.

He glared back at it and then looked at Sokka again with that same vaguely panicked expression, and Sokka paused, hands raised.

“You ok?” he asked.

"No, look," Zuko said quickly, "you're really hot." He gestured at Sokka's torso to illustrate. "Like, obviously, so hot."

"Ok…" Sokka replied, "thank you? Why do you seem scared of that fact?" 

"Fuck, those pecs…" Zuko muttered, briefly reaching out before stopping himself and looking back at Sokka’s face. "And the--you've got the--" he gestured sharply to the angle on either side of his own groin to illustrate.

“Hip bones?” Sokka asked, eyebrows raised. “Yes, Zuko, I’ve got functioning hips. What the fuck?”

“No, but it’s the skin, and-and the dips and I could just--could drink wine off your--but  _ no _ ," Zuko finished firmly, although it was unclear if this was directed at Sokka or at himself. He waved a hand between them. "We can’t-- _ I _ can't…"

"Zuko," Sokka said tiredly, "normally I would  _ love _ to hear you stupid babble about how hot you find my hip bones and apparently the idea of drinking wine off of them? I got a little lost in that bit.” He gave a dismissive wave. “Doesn’t matter, but really, let's  _ please  _ revisit this whole 'tell Sokka how hot he is' when you're sober, but it's like three in the fucking morning, so please just take your shoes off and come to bed."

Zuko looked down at his feet and then back at Sokka. "I can't."

"What? Why?"

"'m sure you're really nice along with being, you know--" Zuko said, gesturing at him, and Sokka could hear his attempt at his diplomatic voice again even if it was considerably less successful when he was this drunk. “But I  _ can't _ ," he emphasized, like that clarified anything.

Sokka stared at him a moment. "You can't take your shoes off?"

"I have a boyfriend," Zuko announced, suddenly firm and considerably clearer in speech.

It took Sokka a moment to process what he'd just said, and then he let out a laugh loud enough it probably woke his other neighbor. If nothing else, it definitely startled Zuko into just staring at him again in confusion.

"Oh my sweet dumbass," Sokka said, rubbing his eyes. " _ I'm  _ your boyfriend."

Zuko squinted at him again.

"No, I  _ have  _ a boyfriend," Zuko insisted, pointing to himself. "Ex'clusive boyfriend. Serious boyfriend."

"Serious, huh?" Sokka asked, smiling. Apparently a little over a month in had turned them to 'serious' in drunk Zuko brain. "Lucky guy."

Zuko's face went dopey and fond. "He's the best," he muttered. "He talks all the time and his eyes are so blue and he does this thing with his tongue when he's thinking and he smells like Christmas."

Sokka was pretty sure part of him was turning to absolute mush with mingled fondness and secondhand embarrassment.

"Well, that's great," he said, holding in the laughter that was threatening to overtake him, "congrats, really, but you should still just sleep here tonight so--"

"I can't sleep with you," Zuko said, gesturing almost aggressively between them. "I have--he's--"

"I got it," Sokka replied. "You’ve got a boyfriend. Wanna just sleep on the couch? Sober up a little at least? Then you can try to find your actual apartment later?"

Zuko looked down at it briefly and then looked back at Sokka.

"Yeah ok," he muttered. "But you'll be… somewhere else?"

Sokka snorted. "Yes, I'll be in my bedroom leaving you alone out of respect for your boyfriend."

"'K good," Zuko said, nodding emphatically, and finally sat back down on the couch and reached for his shoes.

Sokka shook his head and went to grab an extra pillow and blanket, and my god, Zuko was  _ never  _ going to hear the end of this. At the same time, Sokka wasn't sure he'd ever liked the guy more, because this whole intoxicated idiocy had to be the sweetest thing he'd ever experienced.

When he returned to the couch, Zuko had managed to get his shoes off and had finished the rest of the glass of water and was back to petting Boomerang, who was now fully enamored. Between the toast and the constant pets and talking to him, Zuko had probably risen the ranks to "favorite person ever," and the thought made Sokka shake his head. Zuko looked back up again as he approached and passed him the pillow and blanket. 

"Thanks," Zuko said, smiling up at him, holding everything in a jumble in his lap. "You really are nice." He colored a little. "If I didn't have Sokka, I'd pro'lly ask you out." His face snapped to attention again. "But I do. Have him I mean. Sokka. My boyfriend."

Sokka really wanted to kiss him, the precious, drunk moron. 

"You're very loyal," he said, positioning the pillow and blanket on the couch, since Zuko was apparently just gonna sit with them like he didn't know how they worked. "I'm sure your boyfriend would be happy to know that." He smiled down at the still confused looking Zuko. "Now go the fuck to sleep, I swear to god."

Zuko nodded, eyes narrowing, and then looked down at the dog, who'd just dropped his chin on Zuko's knee and was looking at him with large puppy eyes again. Zuko raised his head again, questioning with a similar sort of puppy eyes.

"Yes, Boomerang can stay out here if you want," Sokka said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Now I'm going back to bed. Please sleep and please, for the love of god, go to the bathroom if you're gonna puke because we are not at the level of cleaning your barf off my floor, man."

Zuko nodded dutifully and finally lay down and pulled the blanket over himself. Sokka watched him settle, turning to a lump of shadow with Boomerang curled up against the edge of the couch while Zuko dangled a hand over to pet him. With a last glance over his shoulder at boyfriend and dog, Sokka shut off the hallway light again and headed back to bed, tired and amused and already planning all the glorious ways he was gonna mock Zuko for this forever. With those thoughts in mind and the coolness of the sheets hitting his bare skin again, Sokka was back to sleep in no time.

He did wake up to a tentative knocking on his bedroom door way too soon, and he unburied his head from his pillow. The room was starting to lighten, but not  _ nearly  _ enough for him to be awake again. He rolled over and checked his phone. 

5:53am

There was another very light knock.

Sokka sighed and pulled himself unceremoniously out of bed to get the door, which opened to reveal a very pale, very exhausted, very embarrassed Zuko.

"Thank god," Zuko muttered from where he leaned on the wall beside the door, voice a bit more coherent this time. "It was you."

"Who me?" Sokka said, smiling. "The hot stranger you can't have because you have a boyfriend?"

Zuko eyed him. "Please kill me."

"Not a chance."

"It'd be an act of mercy," Zuko muttered, "like euthanizing a suffering pet." He rubbed his face. "I am  _ suffering _ ."

"You wanna sleep in my bed with me now that you know you won't be cheating on your boyfriend, who apparently 'smells like Christmas ?" Sokka asked, unwilling to stop.

Zuko's eyes went even narrower.

"What does that mean?"

"You tell me, babe."

"Oh god," Zuko muttered, rubbing his temples and hunching forward. "Just a quick blow to the head. Throw me off the balcony. Dump me under a bus."

"Yeah, I'm not doing any of those things."

"It would hurt less and be quicker than the headache and full body horror show I've got growing."

"Come cuddle, drunk home invader," Sokka said, motioning over his shoulder as he headed back to bed. "We can discuss this more when it's not the asscrack of dawn."

Zuko wandered after him, still rubbing his head, and then paused to yank off his shirt and jeans and dump them on the floor. Even the act of doing that, which Sokka watched with a bit of amusement, seemed to take a considerable effort, and Zuko’s expression stayed pinched like he was in real, physical agony. But he managed to drag himself into bed beside Sokka again, eyes bloodshot and still a little unfocused, and then pulled the blankets up around his chin while he curled up on his side.

"I may already be dead," Zuko muttered, watching Sokka's face, "or right there on the edge."

"Yeah, well, sleep for now either way," Sokka said, smiling. "I can always put you out of your misery later."

"Thank you," Zuko sighed.

"Thank you for not cheating on me with the hot guy who's apartment you ended up in," Sokka said, shifting to kiss him on the forehead.

"See, now I want you to kill me so I don't have to deal with your jokes," Zuko said and tugged the blankets fully up over his head as he groaned.

Sokka chuckled and cuddled in himself. "You owe me this."

"Yeah, yeah," Zuko grumbled from under the blanket. "Sleep now. Jokes later."

"I guess that's fair," Sokka admitted, yawning. "Goodnight, my sweet, devoted, mess of a boyfriend."

Then he reached out and patted the lump that was probably Zuko's head. Zuko's only response was another muffled groan from beneath the blankets and a small scoot closer.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was inspired by a random tumblr post I saw long ago about a guy coming home, his wife telling him to come to bed, and him saying something like "you seem really nice but I'm married" and choosing to sleep on the floor. I just couldn't resist turning that into my Midwest disaster bis.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and I'm always incredibly excited for kudos or comments. You can also always come check out my weird, academic nerd tumblr if you wanna chat more: onmyliteraturebullshitagain


End file.
